


steveluvsamerica, or "An Adventure in Online Dating"

by kbirb



Series: Little AUs, as requested by my tumblr followers [4]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Stucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-02
Updated: 2015-07-02
Packaged: 2018-04-07 08:24:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4256316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kbirb/pseuds/kbirb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers really can't date, so Natasha signs him up for online dating. Bucky Barnes, on the other hand, had been using OkCupid for months now, but steveluvsamerica is the first person to peak his interest. Little do they both know, they actually spend their days together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	steveluvsamerica, or "An Adventure in Online Dating"

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for oktievia on tumblr when she requested a "stucky and 'i’m the superhero’s sidekick and you’re the superhero but i don’t know that and we both met on an online dating website and you look really familiar?' au" because she "really fucking loves identity porn."

The hardest part of Steve Roger’s dating life wasn’t his sexuality, or his personality, or the fact that he didn’t have a real job. No, it was the fact that he had no time to date, and too many secrets to risk even trying. Ever. Really.

Which is what he protested to his step sister every single day. And she, every single day, pointed out that she did it just fine.

“Natasha, just because you and Sam are dating, doesn’t mean anything.” Steve was constantly exasperated with his step sibling. “You guys are both heroes who don’t even bother hiding your faces. You then saw each other at the store, ended up dating, and you’re so happy. But that’s not how it’s going to work for me.”

See, Natasha was the infamous Black Widow, and her boyfriend was the Falcon. Steve, on the other hand, was Captain America. And he liked being the grand captain, with no one knowing his identity.

“So, you could date another hero,” Nat pointed out.

The main problem was the time and the identity. Part of being in a relationship was spending time together. Being honest. Things Steve sincerely believed in.

He also didn’t know any heroes to date.

The worst thing about Natasha is that she knew how to get into Steve’s head. So, when he went out the next day with his sidekick, The Winter Soldier, he was noticeably distracted, to the point that the other man pointed it out.

“Cap, man, I just beat up a guy with you shield and you did nothing,” the soldier quipped.

“Yeah, sorry, just distracted.” Steve took the shield back from the other man.

“Take a nap tomorrow, cuddle with that girlfriend I’m sure you have, and I’ll see you.”

“Uh… Yeah, I’ll see you.”

When Steve went home, he called up Natasha. “Alright, I cave. How do I start dating?”

\--

Being a sidekick is lame, Bucky decided as he gingerly cleaned blood from a split lip. Not that Captain America was a bad partner, but he was the hero, which meant Bucky kind of had to go along with what he said. So, if Cap slacked, the Winter Soldier had to pick up that slack. And he couldn’t really rightfully criticize the hero, because he was a sidekick and Cap was a hero. Of course, the hero was so good and chivalrous (exhaustingly so) that he probably viewed The Winter Soldier as his equal and not a sidekick. This meant Bucky could hypothetically call him out, but…

After cleaning up and pulling on a fresh set of clothes, Bucky settled himself in front of his computer. He’d been taking online classes to get a bachelor's degree, something he’d never thought he’d try to do. But his friends from high school had started pushing him to do something, and since he wasn’t about to tell them about his little secret, he consented to taking a few classes. It was taking longer than the traditional four years, but within the next few months he’d be done. Tonight, he still had a four page paper to write, and it was due in… 5 hours. Great.

Bucky’s paper writing method was to take more breaks than necessary, but he always got the work done. Every half an hour, he’d scroll through the internet, log onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, or tweet no nonsense things on the account he ran as The Winter Soldier. There was one distraction he visited rarely, probably once a month, and tonight he decided to.

 ** _Log into OKCupid!_** It was stupid, he knew. He’d had the account for a year and nothing really showed up. Granted, dating wasn’t an easy thing when you spent half your life in secret and the other half doing work for online school. Usually, he’d just look at his messages, browse his matches, and then log back off.

Today, Bucky had 20 unread messages, 500 “likes,” and a few new visitors. It always amused him how often people used QuickMatch as opposed to caring enough to find out who they were pushing “like” for. The messages were the usual stuff- girls looking for an intellectual talk, guys looking for a hookup.

Bucky was about to log off when he got another notification. A message from someone named “steveluvsamerica.” Ugh, probably a Captain America fanboy. The message simply said “Hi, I’m new to the dating thing, but I liked the sound of your profile, so I thought I’d try bravery?” Bucky couldn’t help but smile, so he clicked on the photograph to look at the man’s profile.

 ** _My Self Summary_**  
Hi, I’m Steve, and I’m a bisexual male. Dating’s hard for me and my stepsister 100% forced me on to this website. She also came up with the name from an inside joke, so no I’m not a Captain America fanboy or anything lame. Actually, the joke isn't really that private. My birthday is July 4th, so she says I'm destined to be some sort of grand American hero. But, not quite. Go figures, right? My life is extremely busy, so I’m kind of looking for someone who doesn’t expect me to be able to be around all the time and doesn’t get bothered by my annoying disappearances. Which are totally inexplicable and random...  
I went to school for art, so I do that on the side of my other job. If you ask my family and friends about me, they’ll tell you about the scrawny Brooklyn kid with a pencil behind his ear and a sketchbook in his pocket. As you can see from the photos, I’m definitely not scrawny anymore, but I do still have an annoying habit of sketching the people I love. 

Bucky smiled, looking at Steve’s favorite books/tv shows/movies/music, the six things he couldn’t live without (his stepsister clearly had made herself number one), and all the other aspects of his profile. He was 25, like Bucky, and his job said “Rather not say.” Which is exactly how Bucky had set it. The secrecy on the profile reminded Bucky of his own, and his curiosity had peaked even more.

Clicking on the profile picture, Bucky frowned a bit. This guy seemed eerily familiar, but he had no idea why. He was really unassuming- blonde hair, neatly parted and a killer smile. Nicely built, definitely, and seemed to live his life in an easy going manner. Bucky was interested in knowing more about the stepsister as well, but she was oddly had not included in the photos. Instead, there was a photo of Steve with a dog, Steve at a bar, Steve with his arm looped around some random guy, Steve hunched over a sketchbook, and Steve running some race or something. Easy going, definitely, and not necessarily the type of guy Bucky might have gone for years ago.

For the first time in a while, he responded to a message.

“Hi, Steve, my name’s Bucky, and I’m glad you messaged me.”

\--

Steve had gotten a few messages in the 2 hours since he’d joined OkCupid. Most of them weren’t quite what he wanted, but he responded to them all. Nat had insisted he messaged someone with the username “james_barnes_” and he was honestly hoping to get a message back from this guy. Out of everyone, he’d seemed the easiest for Steve to talk to. His profile pictures showed a clean cut guy with a smirk in almost every photo. He looked a little familiar, but Steve was sure they just lived near each other or shopped in the same grocery store.

Then, his computer pinged, and a little 1 appeared in the corner of the screen. Steve figured it was just another bold person messaging him first, or someone messaging back. 

“Maybe it’s this Jaaaames fella,” Natasha teased, giving Steve a light kick.

Steve shot her a glare and clicked on the notification. Lo and behold, it was, much to Natasha’s utter glee.

\--

For weeks, Captain America and The Winter Soldier continued to fight side-by-side every day. Both noted that the other seemed to be in a good mood. Cap noted that his partner seemed to have cut his longer locks for a shaggier and shorter look. The Soldier, on the other hand, started noticing just how much the hero seemed to be able to focus and get the job done quicker. At the end of the day, they’d both rush home to their computers, logging on just as the other one did. Yet having no clue as to the fact that Steve and Bucky spent their days together and their nights talking. No clue that is, until they decided to grab dinner together one night.

Steve recognized the Soldier’s voice when Bucky shook his hand. Bucky noticed the bruises on Steve’s knuckles and remembered that Cap had landed a punch wrong this morning. And, as the realization dawned, they both uttered a different cuss word, and decided to face the facts. Captain America had flirted with The Winter Soldier, and The Winter Soldier had flirted right back.

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I own no claim to these characters, all rights go to Marvel and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I do not own, nor do I associate with, OKCupid, either.


End file.
